FCS Top 25 leaders gearing up for playoffs

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Just in time for the FCS playoffs, the
teams that were considered in the preseason to have the best chance for
winning a national championship are staking their claim again.

The Sports Network FCS Top 25 released on Monday resembled what it looked like
in the preseason. Seven of the top nine teams in the rankings were in the Top
10 back in mid-August.

After 11 weeks of the FCS regular season, and with one final full Saturday of
action ahead, defending FCS national champion North Dakota State remained No.
1 as the Top 5 went unchanged. The Bison (9-1) received 121 of the 159 first-
place votes and 3,930 overall points following their 20-17 victory over South
Dakota State this past weekend.

The Missouri Valley Football Conference leaders were ranked second in the
preseason poll.

No. 2 Montana State (9-1), No. 3 Sam Houston State (8-2), No. 4 Old Dominion
(9-1), No. 6 Georgia Southern (8-2), No. 8 Appalachian State (8-3) and No. 9
Wofford (8-2) were all ranked in the Top 10 of the preseason poll. Sam Houston
State, which lost to North Dakota State in last season's national championship
game, had been selected as the preseason favorite.

All of those teams are expected to qualify for the 20-team FCS playoffs. The
field will be announced on Sunday and starts with four first-round games on
Nov. 24.

Also in this week's Top 10 were No. 5 Eastern Washington (8-2), No. 7 New
Hampshire (8-2) and No. 10 Central Arkansas (8-2). Each was in the Top 25 in
the preseason poll.

Rounding out the Top 25 were No. 21 South Dakota State (7-3), No. 22 Eastern
Kentucky (7-3), No. 23 Tennessee State (8-2), and Bethune-Cookman (8-2) and
Eastern Illinois (7-3), which shared the No. 24 spot.

Bethune-Cookman, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion, and Eastern
Illinois, the Ohio Valley Conference champion, entered the rankings for the
first time this season. Both teams have earned their conference's automatic
bids to the playoffs.

UT Martin and Harvard fell from the Top 25 after suffering losses.

A national panel of sports information and media relations directors,
broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries select the Top 25. A first-place
vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to
one point for a 25th-place vote.

During the regular season, the Top 25 is released every Monday afternoon,
except for the final weekend, when it will be released Sunday morning prior to
the selection of the FCS playoff field.

The Sports Network will release a final Top 25 following the FCS championship
game, which will be held Jan. 5 in Frisco, Texas.